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COLUMBUS – The first steps towards fighting overuse injuries in high school sports was announced on Tuesday.

In a surprising move, the National Federation of State High School Associations gave each member state the ability to set its own pitch count rules and regulations for high school baseball, according to a press release by the NFHS.

The new pitch count rules are left up to the state, a less than traditional move by the NFHS. The announcement came as a bit of a surprise to OHSAA Assistant Commissioner and lead administrator of baseball, Jerry Snodgrass.

“I attended a national meeting on July 3 for all sports and the pitch count was a topic,” Snodgrass said. “But we left feeling like it would be possibly for the spring of 2018, not 2017.”

Snodgrass is putting together a committee to take a look at the parameters of what Ohio’s rule will be. Though he does have ideas of what other states do. Colorado currently implements a pitch count rule in high school baseball.

Its rule requires pitchers who threw between 86-110 pitches to take three days of rest, 61-85 two days of rest, 36-60 one day and 1-35 no days. Once a pitcher reaches the max of 110, he may complete the batter but must be removed after.

“The popular number is 120 pitches,” Snodgrass said. “That maybe higher than what some people would like but our main focus will be on rest based on number of pitches. That will be an important key to this entire thing.”

The rule change will likely have a major effect on the game. Local coaches voiced their opinions, mostly positively, about the rule change but also brought up some key issues that need to be resolved.

"I am not against any rule that good baseball people feel can help protect the arms of some of our elite pitchers in the high school game, but I do have several concerns," Paint Valley coach Shayne Combs said. "First and foremost, how are we going to police this? Is it the count of the coach? Would an umpire be in charge of it? Official scorer? Game management and scoring in high school baseball is already a tough task, and this could certainly add another dynamic. Obviously, this could promote more arms being developed at the junior high and junior varsity levels but, like many things, the process could be difficult to work through."

Snodgrass also discussed a number of “what-if” scenarios such as who will keep track, when will coaches have access to the number and whether or not a pitcher is allowed to finish an inning upon reaching the max number of pitches in a game.

“There are a lot of different variables that need to be visited before an official rule is implemented,” Snodgrass said. “I am the kind of guy that tries to look at every possible scenario and making sure all of the bases are covered.”

Adena coach Tom Barr was in favor of the rule, mostly due to the fact that pitchers will have more protection.

"This is a good thing for the game and something that we've been using already," Barr said. "At the end of the day, all innings aren't created equally. An inning may be three or four pitches or it may be 50-plus pitches. We all see articles and reports on the increased number of elbow injuries out there, increased Tommy John (UCL) surgeries, etc. This is good for all high school pitchers."

The current rule for pitchers in high school baseball is a limit of innings rather than pitches. Pitchers can throw 10 innings in three days with no limitation on pitches. Coaches are not required to turn in any documentation to the OHSAA based on the number of innings their pitcher throws. Whether or not coaches are mandated to submit pitch counts is still being looked at.

“There is always a way to look at how many innings a pitcher throws with the scorebook,” Snodgrass said. “But pitch counts are a lot more precise and could require coaches to submit a pitch count tracking report.”

Many questions remain such as how often will the pitch counts be available to coaches during the game? When will the opposing coach be allowed to see a player’s pitch count? They are all questions Snodgrass plans to address with his committee. Snodgrass said Ohio can expect to see an announcement “no later than January” due to a baseball coaches association clinic held the same month.

"I am always in favor of rules to error on side of players' safety," he said. "I think most high school coaches do a great job with this. I am more concerned about summer ball and youth coaches. I like the rule but I'm interested in how the state will keep track."

The biggest effect will likely be felt during the tournament when pitchers have been limited to the current rule of 10 innings in three days. Now, depending on the number of pitches, an ace may not be available for the next game of the tournament due to the required rest days.

More Online

To see sports editor Henry Conte's take on who needs to be the adult in the room when it comes to pitch counts, go to www.chillicothegazette.com.